abaïer

An Old French form meaning "to bark" or "to cry out," from the same onomatopoeic root (bau-) that eventually gave modern French aboyer. It survives only in historical texts and dictionaries today — no living speaker uses abaïer instead of aboyer.

• Le chien abaïait devant la porte close. — The dog barked in front of the closed door.
• On l'entendait abaïer au loin dans la nuit. — It could be heard barking in the distance in the night.
• Le texte médiéval décrit un chien qui abaïe sans relâche. — The medieval text describes a dog that barks relentlessly.

There's no real modern mistake to make here since the word itself is obsolete — the only trap is assuming it's a typo for aboyer when reading an older text, when it's actually the historical ancestor of that verb.

Often confused with aboyer.